Host City 2017 welcomed more event owners, hosts and organising committees than ever for two days of unrivaled insight, knowledge sharing and networking.

The fourth Host City conference was the best yet in every respect and we thank all our speakers, sponsors and delegates for supporting the growth of this vital gathering of cities and sports, business and cultural events.

Common themes emerging from the discussions included the need for communication between cities and rightsholders to be improved in order to deliver great events that benefit all stakeholders. Great partnerships can be forged if parties articulate and share their goals earlier in the event hosting process so that these can be aligned.

Knowledge transfer from one organising committee to another was identified as an area with huge scope for improvement. Cities and rightsholders recognise that one hosting template cannot fit all events as each city will bring unique qualities to the event experience, but the knowledge bank of shared experience should be made more accessible to hosts.

Authenticity, Honesty, Partnerships, Collaboration and Communication were words often repeated in conversations at Host City 2017. Cities reiterated their prioritiy to work with international expertise but at the same time to engage and deliver to local communities and to reach out to involve a younger audience through new sports and technology, offering a sense of connection and opportunties for self presentation.

Excellent and enthusiastic Host City project updates were delivered from Hiromi Kawamura, Public Relations Secretary, Tokyo 2020; Jooho Kim, Executive Vice President of Games Planning and Operations, PyeongChang 2018 and Carlos Manuel Lazarte Labarthe, Director of Operations, Lima 2019 Pan American and Para Pan American Games.

We also had valuable insights from a long list of VIP speakers, including: Sir Craig Reedie CBE, IOC Member and President of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Christophe Dubi, Olympic Games Executive Director, International Olympic Committee; Patrick Baumann, President, General Association of International Sports Federations; Sarah Lewis, Secretary General, Association of International Olympic Winter Federations; David Grevemberg CBE, Chief Executive, Commonwealth Games Federation; Alexandra Szalay-Bobrovniczky, Deputy Mayor of Budapest and senior figures from non-sports events including Cirque du Soleil and World Expos.

You can take a peek at what happened at Host City 2017 through our photo gallery »

Or view our event video »

Next year we will be returning to Glasgow but bigger and stronger and we are focussed on growing the exhibition side of the Host City event. Please contact Adam Soroka if you want to be involved Host City 2018.